Abstract
Family policy poses policy-making elites a dilemma over the exercise of power. The target policy outcome of family policy can often be achieved only through an individual’s act of choosing a particular family lifestyle by forming a family, while the political authority, even one in the authoritarian regime such as Imperial Japan, cannot force its people to commit to the family-forming against their wills. By referring to the theoretical discussion of governmentality and two brief case studies from Japan after World War II (WWII) (New Life Movements in the 1950/1960s and structural reform of the family in the early 2000s), Hiroko Takeda explores the question of how power should be exercised to optimize the policy outcome of family policy.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Prior to this, the Imperial Army released a pamphlet entitled ‘A Proposal of the Core Purpose and Strengthening of the National Defence’ (Kokubo no hongi to sono kyoka) in 1934. One of the main theses of the pamphlet was to emphasize the importance of supporting the national population to have a stable, good life for the purpose of building a successful national defense scheme (Yonetani 1997).
- 2.
As Imperial Japan’s war engagement deepened in the late 1930s, policy concerns over the quantity and quality of the national population became highlighted, eventually resulting in the establishment of the National Eugenic Law (Kokumin Yuusei Hou) in 1941.
- 3.
Foucault never completed his discussion on governmentality. Rather, as Dillon and Neal have pointed out, Foucault abandoned the ‘governmentality’ lines of analyses, turning to the questions over technique of the self in ancient Greece, while raising the problems ‘in a parochial way’ (Dillon and Neal 2011: 1–2).
- 4.
- 5.
It is worth noting that Chap. 29 of the Criminal codes was retained when the Eugenic Protection Law was introduced, and hence, abortion outside the conditions set in the Law remained illegal. This situation continues to this day, although the Eugenics Protection Law was revised into the Mother’s Body Protection Law in 1996.
- 6.
The descriptions of the New Life Movement in this paragraph are based on my previous analyses. The full-length discussions are found in the following publications (Takeda 2005: Chapter 5).
- 7.
The term ‘self-responsibility’, directly translated from a Japanese word, jiko sekinin, may sound to English-language speakers. The reason why the prefix ‘self’ is attached is rooted in the historical trajectory of discussions on the sense of responsibility in Japan (see Hook and Takeda 2007).
References
Burchell, G. (1996). Liberal government and techniques of the self. In A. Barry, T. Osborne, & N. Rose (eds.), Foucault and political reason: Liberalism, neo-liberalism and rationalities of government (pp. 19–36). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Dillon, M., & Neal, A. W. (Eds.). (2011). Foucault on politics, security and war. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Foucault, M. (1978). The history of sexuality: An introduction (R. Hurley, Trans.). Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin.
Foucault, M. (1983). The subject and power. In H. L. Dreyfus & P. Rabinow (Eds.), Michel Foucault: Beyond structuralism and hermeneutics the second edition with an afterword by and interview with Michel Foucault (pp. 208–226). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Foucault, M. (1991). Governmentality. In G. Burchell, C. Gordon, & P. Miller (Eds.), The Foucault effect: Studies in governmentality (pp. 87–104). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
Foucault, M. (2003). Society must be defended: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1975–76 (D. Macey, Trans.). London: Allen Lane.
Foucault, M. (2007). Security, territory, population: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1977–78 (G. Burchell, Trans.). Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Garon, S. (1997). Molding Japanese minds: The state in everyday life. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Garon, S. (2000). Luxury is the enemy: Mobilizing saving and popularizing thrift in wartime Japan. The Journal of Japanese Studies, 26(1), 41–78.
Gordon, A. (1997). Managing the Japanese household: The new life movement in postwar Japan. Social Politics, 4(2), 245–283.
Gordon, C. (1991). Governmental rationality: An introduction. In G. Burchell, C. Gordon, & P. Miller (Eds.), The Foucault effect: Studies in governmentality (pp. 1–51). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
Hook, G. D., & Takeda, H. (2007). “Self-responsibility” and the nature of the Japanese state: Risk through the looking glass. Journal of Japanese Studies, 33(1), 93–123.
Itagaki, K. (1992). Showa senzen senchu-ki no noson seikatsu: zasshi ie no hikari ni miru. Tokyo: Sanrei Shobou.
Koyama, S. (1999). Katei no seisei to josei no kokuminka. Tokyo: Keisou Shobou.
Nakamura, T. (1986). Showa keizaishi. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.
Naikakufu (2002). Kokumin seikatsu hakusho: kazoku no kurashi to kouzou kaikaku (Please make the title italic). Tokyo: Gyousei.
Ochiai, E. (1997). The Japanese family system in transition. Tokyo: LTCB International Library.
Ogino, M. (2008). Kazoku keikaku eno michi: kindai nihon no seishoku o meguru seiji. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.
Oobuchi, H. (1997). Shoushika jidai no nihon keizai. Tokyo: Nihon Housou Kyoukai.
Ookado, M. (2009). Zenshu nippon no rekishi dai 15-kan sensou to sengo o ikiru. Tokyo: Shougakkan.
Rose, N. (1992). ‘Governing the Enterprising Self’, in Paul Heelas and Paul Morris (Eds.) The Value of Enterprise Culture: The Moral Debate, London: Routledge, pp. 141–64.
Rose, N. (1996). Governing “Advanced” liberal democracies. In A. Barry, T. Osborne, & N. Rose (Eds.), Foucault and political reason: Liberalism, neo-liberalism and rationalities of government (pp. 37–64). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Rose, N. (1999). Powers of freedom: Reframing political thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Satou, T. (2002). Kingu no jidai: kokumin taishu zasshi no koukyousei. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.
Shinseikatsu Undo Kyokai (Ed.). (1958). Shinseilatsu shirizu 13 asu eno taido: hirogaru kigyotai no shinseikatsu undo. Tokyo: Shinseikatsu Undo Kyokai.
Takeda, H. (2005). The political economy of reproduction in Japan: Between everyday life and nation-state. Abington, Oxon: RoutledgeCurzon.
Takeda, H. (2011). Reforming families in Japan: Family policy in the era of structural reform. In R. Richard & A. Alexy (Eds.), Home and family in Japan: Continuity and transformation (pp. 46–64). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Uno, K. S. (1993). The death of “Good Wife, Wise Mother”? In A. Gordon (Ed.), Postwar Japan as history (pp. 293–322). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Yonetani, M. (1997). Senjiki nihon no shakai shiso: gendai-ka to shakai henkaku. Shiso, 882.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Takeda, H. (2016). Power over Family Policy: Governing of or Governing through Individuals. In: Steel, G. (eds) Power in Contemporary Japan. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59193-7_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59193-7_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-60166-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-59193-7
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)